GQ Denies Enhancing January Jones’s Breasts on the November Cover

Earlier this week, we pondered the state of January Jones's cleavage on the cover of next month's GQ. Her breasts look spectacular. Too spectacular? Comparisons with other photos seemed to indicate retouching was at play. An expert retoucher and friend of the Cut examined the cover, shot by Terry Richardson, and told us her breasts looked fake. A "source close to [GQ]" tells "Page Six" that the magazine "definitely did some significant retouching," adding, "It's just par for the course these days with cover shoots." However, GQ denies they enhanced her chest.

In a blog post on GQ's website, photo director Dora Somosi says, "Terry likes to work with harder lighting, and that can create a stronger shadow — that, and body position and perspective could give the illusion that her breasts are bigger."

Also:

So any comparisons between the cover shot and something taken on, say a red carpet
are a little ridiculous. Terry Richardson prides himself on unretouched pictures, and we only hire photographers who operate that way. We like a natural look — there's very minimal retouching.

But! Minimal retouching is still retouching, so that natural look is a retouched magazine version of natural. (You'd be hard-pressed to find a subject who isn't smoothed, reshaped, slimmed, what have you, on the cover of — or inside — a magazine today. Here's one spectacular example.) GQ says all they retouch are dark under-eye circles or pimples — not boobs. "January Jones needed no help. Trust me," Somosi adds.

Even if GQ left her cleavage alone, that doesn't change that the cover is entirely about her breasts, and readers likely notice those before they notice who they belong to. But maybe that translates into those increasingly elusive newsstand sales.